Moo Chats

From Wax Pots to Operations Boss: Meet Eco Moo (Jade Freeland)

• Amy Lewis • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Jade Freeland thought she was just joining a salon.
Nine years later, she’s part of something much bigger.

In this first episode of Moo Chats, Amy sits down with Jade — aka Eco Moo — for an unfiltered conversation about leadership, loyalty, wax obsessions, awkward client moments, and why working in beauty therapy is way more emotional than most people realise.

You’ll hear about:

  • How Jade climbed from therapist to ops leader (with a baby in the middle)
  • Why she loves nose waxing and ingrown hairs (yes, really)
  • The emotional weight of managing a team — and how she handles it
  • Why clients treat beauty therapists like secret keepers
  • The truth about the beauty industry’s sustainability problem

It’s funny. It’s honest. It’s the kind of chat that sticks with you.

Hit play to meet the women behind the wax pot.

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Make sure you hit Follow or Subscribe so you never miss an episode of Moo Chats — real conversations from inside the Herd.

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Thanks for listening — and welcome to the Herd. 🐮

 Welcome to Mo Chats. I'm Amy Lewis. I'm the owner of Moiz, and my first guest is Jade Freeland. Now I'm gonna do your little intro here. I've written it up. Don't cry. Oh, no. So ready? I dunno. Jade has worked for Moiz since 2017. Nearly nine years. She started as a therapist, worked her way to management, went off, had the beautiful body now returning this year.

This week, yeah. Um, in an operations role after her maternity leave where she's working alongside me to support our salon teams and the growth of our business. Jade ran Farham exceptionally well. She's an incredible leader, one of the best managers I've ever had the privilege of working alongside. She's our very own eco Moo.

She's an absolute superstar, and the Moo is herd and one of the most beautiful humans you will ever meet. Oh. My souls. Oh no. Oh God. I'd get emotional. I was getting emotional writing it. Um, but I, I mean it, I mean, every single word, don't cry it. Um, I mean, every single word you are ha you are a phenomenal leader, phenomenal manager of people.

And I think the whole purpose of this podcast is to showcase humans like you and showcase the beauty industry and what we do. Because it takes a village, uh, to build a community like Mo is. But also I think it just takes, you are like the perfect moo as a therapist and as a manager, and that's as much you're gonna get from me.

Okay, so I don't get your head too big. Well, I won't be walking out the door, so I'm gonna start this podcast with a quick fire warmup just to get you Juicy. Lucy, you ready? I don't know. Okay. Tea or coffee? Tea. Sweet or savory? Sweet. Uh, favorite nail color? I'm, I'm a savory person. I'm nervous. Oh. Did you get that wrong?

I like pastries. Sweet pastries. I dunno anything. Cheese, cheese. Cheese and crisps. Okay. Cheese and crisp. Um, favorite nail color? Nude. Oh. You are a nude person. N't you through and through Dark toes. Nude hands. Interesting. Not matchy matchy. No. No. Controversial. Uh, favorite biscuit. Ginger nut. Oh, I don't think I've ever heard anyone tell me their favorite biscuit is ginger nut, ginger biscuit.

Uh, pajamas or no pajamas? Uh, pajamas. Uh, first job ever. Uh, I used to work with my aunt, uh, uh, farm, a football club. I used to, she used to run the, the food like cafe? Yeah. We used to sell everyone burgers and stuff at Farmborough Football club. Cool. Yeah. Wows used to stink when I come home. Yeah. Chit fat.

Yeah. Fatty. Uh, and one last quick fire round. Uh, what are you watching at the minute? Um, I, we've just seen finished Stranger Things. Have you? Yeah. You like it? I love it. Love everything about it. Mm-hmm. Um, haven't on traders. We're on traders now. Yeah. The season traders. And have you got a recommendation of anything you've watched?

Oh, it depends. Depends if you're into murder. Yes. Oh, I love murder. And there's nothing like, like de-stressing to watching people get their heads blown off. Is it? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. All of the monster series. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Oh, that is really like, yeah, no, I like, I like the, um, like, because the, the most recent one was Eding.

Yeah. They're doing a Lizzie boredom one next. Um, and they've done, they did Ted Bundy and they did, yeah. Um, which one was the most interesting? I dunno. I love 'em all. Yeah. Yeah. I do. I like a game was a bit like a game was good. Was that? It was good. Oh God, he's a bit creepy. But Charlie Ham. Charlie Ham's beautiful.

So it's hard to see him as murderer in my opinion. Why? I dunno anything about that? Charlie? Charlie Ham, he is the guy that plays Ed Geen and Monster. Oh, I see. Yeah, he's stunning. I thought you were gonna say like there was a like a sociopath monster, like serial killer. That's actually really lovely and it's hard to see the bad side of him.

Ted Bundy is that person. Really? Yeah. They get Zach Efron to play him. Ah, yeah, but he was like the one, the most unsuspecting one because of, he was a handsome man that was really nice, but he used to just kill women. Mm. Oh, right. And that's a great way to start. Thanks. Nasty piece of work. Um, how did you first come into the movie as well, Jade?

How did I find movies? Well, first come into it. You came in as a therapist, didn't you? Yeah, I came as a therapist. Um, and I, I don't really recall how long I was just therapist before I became senior. I, it was within a year, I think. Yeah. It was quick. Yeah, it was quick. And then, um, yeah, it was, it was fast, but I liked, I don't like to be slow.

No, I like, I like fast. And What did you do before? I worked at another beauty salon in, well, I went traveling. Yes, you did. Didn't, where did you travel? We went to Thailand, Lao, Cambodia, Vietnam. And then we spent about four months in New Zealand. And then we came home. Yes. Love New Zealand. Haven't you got family there?

No. No, no, no, no. So why did you spend four months there? Over everywhere. We were gonna spend a year. Right. Um, but, uh, one of, uh, Ben's granddad was really poorly. So we came home. We used all of our savings to come home and try and get to him before he passed away. But we didn't quite make it so, oh no. But then we spent all of our money, the rest of the money.

'cause it was so expensive to get back from New Zealand. Yeah. Um. That when, when we came home, we couldn't afford to really get back, so we just blew it all on a two week Thailand holiday in the end. I mean, there's worse ways to spend it. Oh, yeah. And I think then I worked my, my old salon for a little bit is reception before I found Moe.

Yeah. And why Moe, why did you choose to work with us? Because you, well, I, I hated massages and facials than spray tans and, and MU's had none of it. Yeah, it's really common actually, isn't it? Yeah. We do attract therapists that really hate those sorts of treatments. Yeah. Like massage especially. Yeah. And I actually think I found you when I was traveling because if I even thought about starting my own and me and Ben were talking about it and like drawing logos and stuff and then I did some research and I found that there's lots of places in Australia that just that just so waxes.

And then I just looked for waxing. 'cause I love it. I love waxing. And then I think I found you that way, just researching. Salons that just do waxing. So do you prefer waxing to nails? Yeah. See, I would've thought it was the other way around because of your, your nail work is so, so beautiful. I did a lot of it.

You did, didn't you? I did a lot of nails, but I do love waxing. It's the most satisfying thing to do. Oh, it really is. Isn't most satisfying thing. We are a weird breed though. Yeah. Like for people that love waxing people, I think. I call us fluffy therapists. You know, like, we like the results. Yeah. We like the brows, the tinting, the lashes, the, you know, waxing and nails and pedicures things like with an instant result.

Yeah. And then you've got like your tree huggers or your more like holistic therapists Yeah. Who are just beautiful humans that want to heal the world. Yeah. With aromatherapy and reiki and massage and stuff. And that, that's just not my jam. It's just not, it's not quick enough. Haven't got the patience for it.

I haven't got patience to wait six weeks to see if her facials worked. Yeah, I want to see it now. And also there is nothing nicer than doing a hot wax. An intimate hot wax. I know it's grim, but an intimate hot wax. When you get all of the roots, all the flappy roots, it's stroke, isn't it? And when you show a client, and also another one that's the best is when you do the nose wax.

'cause we always do lip and nose, don't we? Together? And when you do the nose wax and you put it out and you're like, oh, there's a little porcupine. Yeah. Right Corner touch bit. Love it.

Yeah, we are a weird brick. We are a weird, weird, yeah. And grown hairs love it. Squeeze them. Love them. Yeah. Get right in. But I suppose it's nice to know that um, we love our job and we love what we do, but yeah, because we do so many nails and because your work is so perfect. I always thought that you were more nails, but obviously not more.

I do enjoy nails. I do. Just waxing is more satisfying to me. But it's a long time to stay in a company. Right? Seven, seven years. Is it nine years? Nearly. Nine. Nine. Yeah. So how, that's a long time, right? Started a company. What's kept you here? Um, I love it. What do you love about it? Um, I love people. Mm. But also I don't feel like you used, do you know what I mean?

Like, I don't feel like you just like, get in, do your job and then go and like you care about us. Yeah. That's a nice thing. And I think the progression that I've had. Yeah, has kept me so interested because of my job became so different so many times through those nine years that I didn't, I have not got bored.

Well, you didn't have time, did you really? No. No, I haven't time to. So you went from therapist to supervisor or senior? We call it supervisor now, yeah. But senior level. And then did you go to a assistant or duty manager, or did you Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did. Just before Joe left. Yeah. And then you went to manager of, yeah.

And then you applied for the optional. Yeah, so we launched it last year, the operations role. I was like, yes, finally not gonna be doing this on my own. I'm gonna have someone, my sidekick. And then what happened? Hmm. Uh, Jade fell pregnant with, for Bonnie. I told you the day before it was meant to be my interview.

Yes, it did. Or wasn't it? I was thinking, I was like 10 weeks pregnant. I was, yeah. And it was, it was, it was so lovely of you. But also by the time you told me. I would've just had three months to train you up into a whole new role and then you would've gone. So we ended up pulling the plug on the role and waiting until you come back.

Yeah. So I held it together. And then you've come back. Yeah, me and now in the role. And you've literally taken half my to-do list already, so I thank you. You're welcome. Thanks for that, your time. Um, but now we're gonna do operations together and that kind of role is so much different, isn't it? Yeah. So much different.

'cause you're gonna be helping me support with the salons. You're gonna be. Helping me with all of like product, like introduction of new products, development of treatment standards. Oh my God, there's so much, isn't there? Yeah, I, I feel like I only just learned what SOP meant and now I know everything about, about operating position.

Yeah. We need one. And because it's franchise as well, you have to have every, a policy for absolutely everything. It keeps everything clean and. Fresh, like everywhere is doing the same thing. So yeah, every salon. Yeah. But it also gives like a handbook or a Bible, doesn't it? So that you write, you open a salon, here you go, here's how to answer the phone.

Here's to do that. And that's the whole purpose of franchising. And I'm a proper list person. I love a list. 'cause then I can ticket it, rewrite it, throw it, rewrite it, take it. Yeah. You're gonna be absolutely brilliant in this role. I know you are, but I wanna ask you a bit more about being a therapist.

Mm-hmm. Like, what's the worst experience you've ever had as a therapist? Because people think that we just funny around paint nails. Yeah. And you know, funny around with fan, but actually there's so much more to it, isn't it? Yeah. And I think we've all had those worst experiences. I might share one, I'm not sure yet.

Um, but yeah, like, um, but most of it, 99% of it is pure joy, isn't it? Yeah. I love everything about it. What do you love most, first of all then? I, I love, I love the, the difference in it that I've seen different people and chatting to different people and having all of their different stories. Yeah. 'cause people are so open with you as a therapist.

They're, and especially when you're doing intimate wax in. Yeah. And I just think because if you are not biased to anything, they can just offload on you and know that you're not gonna judge him. Yeah. And you're not gonna be like, yeah, but I know his side of the story. Yeah. You know, it's just. Can I just tell you my crap sometimes just a sounding board.

Yeah. It does feel like people come in just off load, isn't it? Yeah. All of their worries and all their problems. And you do feel like little mini counselors. Yeah. But it's also nice that people feel comfortable enough that they can just do that. Mm-hmm. And then they come back. Yeah. And it's not just like a one, one and done.

They come back and then they just keep, you know, sharing their stories with you. Yeah. It is lovely, isn't it? Yeah. I meet so many different people that do so many different kinds of jobs. I love it. It's fascinating, isn't it? Yeah. I think you, you have to be quite nosy as well to be a good therapist, don't you?

Yeah. You have to really like get into Yeah. Dig deep. I love it. Yes. So nice. I absolutely love it. So, yeah. What's the worst experience you've ever had? Um, it wasn't at Moody's. Uh, it was at my old job, but it was, I mean, I've been really lucky. I've never had any, anything horrific, but probably the worst thing that happened to me was a client had come in and booked.

A hot wax wax. Mm. But hadn't booked it correctly. They just booked her. So we used to have, uh, we used to do strip wax. Yeah. And I was only trained in strip wax intimates. God, it's mad to me. Brutal. But it's, it's mad that people are still doing it. Yeah. And I know people that strip wax or do intimates with strip wax.

I like so loyal to strip wax and they think, 'cause they can do it in 15 minutes the best ever. Yeah. So, and I know that there are a handful of people that are absolute experts with strip works, but the general beauty population. Like, it's so hard to do it. Yeah. And it's so painful. Yeah. It's so sticky. You gotta take your pants off and then you're like, rew messy.

Yeah. Reww waxing yourself. 'cause you go for a wee, it's horrible. Um, yeah. So I'd only been trained in strip wax intimates and this lady had booked in, but she'd booked a strip wax intimate rather than a hot wax. Intimate. Right. At that point, I wasn't trained and she, she was furious. You wasn't trained in hot wax.

No. Right. She was, she was angry because I'd started to do strip work. Knowing that that was the treatment that she booked. And she was like, I've not asked for that. Right? I said, well, I'm really sorry, but the therapist who does hot wax isn't here and I'm not trained in it. So as I was wax, she was like, just get on with it.

So as I was waxing her, she was writing an email complaint about me as I was waxing her. Oh my God. I know di I didn't cry until after. Yeah, but she was, she was furious. Yeah. Yeah. And you can feel fury from someone as well, like Yeah, I could hear the aggressive typing and I could feel she was furious at me, but yeah, I couldn't, you know.

And beauty therapists tend to be empaths as well. You tend to feel people's emotions anyway, right? Yeah. Because of the job we do. It was really heavy. Oh mate. How old were you then? Oh, I must have been like 19. Oh, it's quite brutal, isn't it? Yeah. But a tough lesson to learn. I mean, I soon learned hot wax after that.

I always learned it happen again. That's good. Yeah. And you are like, I'm gonna talk a bit about moon names as well. Yeah. Because it is quite unique to Moiz. The whole moon names situ, isn't it? Yeah. And I think we are also used to moon names, but yours is Eco Mo. Yeah. Right. So. What, why do we have moon names?

Do you know? We had, well, I, I remember my moon name used to be different in the beginning. Was it? Yeah, it was Nelly Moo for a really long time. Oh yeah. So a really long time. A few years. Yeah. And then I was talking to you about all of the eco-friendly stuff that I like, and then we just changed it. Yeah.

Um, but I know we've got, we've got like Instagram handles, haven't we? Where we Hashtag hashtag, yeah, hashtag hashtag We middle name got a whole like, so a profile. A profile, and all the work that we've done that we've posted on. Yeah, on Instagram and stuff like that, but also it's just part of your personality and I think it, it makes clients ask why?

Why are you come here? Why you, yeah. Yeah. It does. And actually it stems from when I worked on cruise ships and every week, because it is so international, like all of the crew are from everywhere, all over the world. You used to put the country you were from. Yeah. So it was a conversation starter and you don't have that uncomfortable, where's your accent from?

Yes. That uncomfortable conversation. Um, which Brits are not very good at anyway. It always comes across a bit rude. Yeah. Or a bit interrogation, doesn't it? Yeah. Um, however, yeah, we used to have badges with our, our name and then the country we're from. And when I set up mirror, I thought like, that'd be a really good conversation start of just something Yeah.

That, you know, um, for clients, if they're a little bit. Some people are really good at just having conversations and some people really struggle, but it isn't in Yeah. Why? Yeah. Why are you an eco move, but then also you have your whole portfolio online for hashtag Yeah. Yeah. Um, well we chose Eco Move because we were having those conversations about sustainability, and the only reason I became really interested in it was because of David Attenborough.

Yeah. Because of all of his shows. I loved them. I loved all of his shows and I actually can't watch them anymore 'cause I cry all the time. Really? I can't watch any of his shows. No, I can't. 'cause they're always like, they're really heavy now, aren't they? Yeah. And they're all, you know, everything's dying.

Everyone's poaching everything and stealing their ivory and, you know, the, I think, um, that la that giant tortoise just died, didn't he? Oh, his name is gentle. Oh, I won't wanna say Gentle Charlie, but it wasn't his name. And it's not George, I thought just died. Oh. Made me really sad too. So I can't, yeah. I really struggle to watch it.

But he was the reason that I got into it because he was showing all of the plastic and stuff, and then I found Four Ocean. Mm-hmm. Um, and they are a, they're a charity that collect all of the plastic out of the ocean in different countries and they make bracelets out of the plastic. Right. They repurpose it and make it into bracelets and stuff.

And you, your money supports them going out and collecting all of the rubbish in the sea. Yeah. Aw, Jay. I know, I know. It makes me sad. There's a lot of stuff that we're doing to the earth. It's terrible. It is. But also I feel like every time we, um, if, if I've ever launched a product, I've always kind of run it past you to see what the, our, our own eco thinks about it.

Uh, when we first launched the Moose Skin Range Yeah. I was like, I want to do, um, aluminum bottles and I want bamboo casing so that people don't just throw a pump away. They look at it and go, oh, that looks like it should be reused. Yeah. So, yes, it's plastic, but it's the fact that there's some, a bamboo element to it.

Yeah. So that it looks like, and it should be reused and it should be refilled and it should be washed out and re loved. Yeah. Um, and I remember going through all of those products with you and be like, what could we do better, Jade, how we do this? And I remember also when I brought out the phone pops, you know, the things that go on the back of your phone?

You were like, no, I don't want one. I'm not having it. It's plastic and I don't want it. I was like, I'm sorry. Oh God, I feel awful that I've made them now. And you're like, don't worry, I just, I won't have one. I was like, I did, I mean, there was a part of me that was a bit jealous that everyone could have, you know, hold their phone really easily, but I just, I will not do it.

Yeah. Make me a more sustainable one. That's true. Yeah. It's difficult though. It's so difficult to make sustainable stuff that's affordable as well. But what do you think we could do better? Well, we could always start with movies, but what can we do better do you reckon? In the world? Well, in the salons. In, in salon.

Start with what we can do now. Well, I mean, one of the things that we are going, we're trying to go into a single use files, isn't it? And we Are you trying to use It's hard though, isn't it? Really hard. It's really hard because we're trying to find eco-friendly sandpapers and grits and things and, and also it'd be affordable for us to do.

Yeah. Um, but it would, you know, it, it would help with the amount that we chuck away. Yeah. And that's it. 'cause we use the EFI now. Yeah. Which is great. Yeah. Because it reduces the amount of files, but all the files have plastic in them and they're not recyclable. So we are trying to move to, and. There's a lot of noise in the beauty industry about files that should only be single use and that they're not clean and they're not hygienic.

'cause there's some nail techs out there that like clickbait. Yeah. And they like put putting videos out to scare their living shit out of clients to say if you go to a salon and they don't use single use files, then you should boycott them, which is utter. Nonsense. 'cause if they're clean, they're clean.

Yeah. But it shows the power of social media. Oh God. Because as soon as one person we have, you know, when before I left Van, we used to hear it. People ask, have people ask why we don't use single files. Yeah. But it's all the, all people are doing it for. It's not because they're experts in the industry or because they've received different training.

It's because they want to be seen as the experts. So they say stuff like that, it's really difficult. Yeah. However, I agree with single use files on fee. We've been doing that for a long time. But the waste is massive, isn't, it's massive. So there's got to be a balance, isn't there? There's got to be a balance of, it's not so much the cost.

That's a priority because with single use, they, they're affordable. Yeah. But it's finding a brand that is recyclable or that biodegrades, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's quite tough. Yeah. So the EFI have definitely helped with that. EFI have helped massive, but finding a single use for that. So we are trialing like foot files and stuff, aren't we?

'cause we use the footwear still because they're washable. Yeah. And they are clean. We use antiseptic wash with them. We use an antiseptic spray. Like they are so clean. Yeah. Um, but the files themselves, I just feel bad using single use and throwing them in the bin. Right. Yeah. It is tough. Yeah. And wax is another one.

Wax wax is really tough. Yeah. 'cause it's not, it, it's, it's biodegradable to some degree. And we use the paper strips 'cause they biodegrade quicker than the fabric ones. Yeah. Believe it or not. It's weird, isn't it? I think. Yeah. Um, but the actual wax itself, the hot wax, it's really hard. To get anything more sustainable than what we're doing apart from laser.

But then you've got laser equipment and Oh my God. And in the past it, it comes with that. Yeah. We are doing everything that we can here. I mean, you've just made some biodegradable foot wipees. I have, so it's Yes, I did. Yeah. You know, we, we are changing what we can and doing what we can. Yeah. And we always have secondhand or upcycled furniture as well.

We try do that as much as possible. Yeah. Mm. It's difficult, isn't it? Yeah. But the beauty industry has like the biggest plastic waste or the cosmetic industry Yeah. Is such a culprit for throwaway waste. And I always think like when I was creating moose skin, I was looking at all the packaging and thinking like when you get a box, right?

If you buy a product like this and it's in a box. That box and the insert is just thrown away. Yeah. So that box and insert costs you 50 p or whatever as a supply, a manufacturer, but people literally just put that straight in the recycling. How many people keep that box that the product's in? Never. So what do we do?

Like why do we, one, you are manufacturing it and creating it, which you, you need to like use fuels to do in the first place. Then you've gotta ship it. 'cause most of the time you're gonna have it done in China. 'cause in the uk most of them just buy from China and charge the extra price. Yeah. And then you've kind of got it on, it looks great on a display, but then it's just far away.

Yeah. Oh God. It's so difficult. Yeah, it's so tough. But then if you don't have the box, the bottles get dented. So I'd done a survey on Moiz and said like to our clients, what would they prefer? And actually it was a hundred percent unanimous. Don't do boxes and just keep with a dented bottle. I was like, okay.

Oh yeah, I thought it was gonna be a big problem. But most people were like, no, I'd rather reuse a bottle than worry about that and have it cheaper. Yeah. And I guess at the end of the day, I mean, I'm not gentle with my stuff. It's gonna get dented anyway. Yeah, that's the only problem with it, isn't it? Uh, I feel like you can have conversations all the time about like sustainability and what we do.

Yeah. But the beauty industry, I think does need to get better at it. Yeah, it does. Sure. They need to buy like bigger bottles and refill, but I dunno what else we can do. Really. No, I, I mean, I definitely think we're doing everything that we can. Yeah. But I mean, even packaging from. Amazon or for many other companies, you get a tiniest little thing and your box is enormous.

Yeah, it's massive. It's just ling around in there and it's just such unnecessary waste. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. And there's another thing with, um, you know, like the wax, uh, cartridges. So this has been something, 'cause we are like a product manufacturer as well. We've got our own products, the wax cartridges that we've got or that we, we've been asked for.

Sorry. We used Potw wax. Yeah. So we don't have a double dip, never double dip. So we go through a lot of wooden spatulas. However, I get a lot of people ask me for their cartridges. Have you used them before? The, the ones that are already in them? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I have. And I struggled. Did you? Yeah. I didn't enjoy it, but I, I mean, it's the only time I, I, I used it once.

Yeah. And it wasn't easy, but I was, I've only used wooden strips. Yeah. Wooden. It's quite difficult. The difficulty is right. Pot and wax, easy. And it's what we will, we all know the cartridges can half your wax time because you're not tip dipping in. You're not throwing that away, but you literally have a plastic cartridge and a top that you can't reuse.

No. So yes, you can half your time so you can maximize your profit, but then that's going in the bin. And that as a business owner is a really hard decision because the human in me says no. Yeah. Stick with the wax part. The business owner is like half the time, get more clients in. Yeah. Your business is more efficient.

It's a constant battle, isn't it? It's constant battle. It's a constant battle. However, we will do whatever we can, and now with you and the operations mix, I feel like you're gonna help me do my best. We will, weren't we? Yeah. Hmm. Okay, so I'm gonna go back to teams now. Mm-hmm. Because you've been a manager, how long were you in the salon management role for?

I wanna say about three years. Yeah. Okay. And what was the hardest thing about managing a team? Uh, getting them to trust me. Why? Because you, well, you came up through the ranks though. I did, but even coming up through the ranks, the first, you know, the first step was hard because if I was new. Yeah. And I think I took that with me everywhere.

Like in every step. I was like, I'm new at this, so they're not gonna like. They're not gonna like me taking more charge because if I'm new at this, but, um, it is tough to win people's trust. People don't trust easy. Mm-hmm. And I get that. Um, but you just gotta prove that you know what you're talking about, but also make mistakes and like admit it and like, you know, you know it, it might piss some people off, but yeah, you've admitted it and you've, you're learning from it.

So it's all a benefit in the end. It's just. Mm. Getting people to trust you is quite difficult. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you take over and you know over people that have been there much longer than you. Yeah. You've gotta prove why you are, you know, in that position rather than them unsuitable for that job.

Yeah. And you're gonna benefit them. You know, I'm not just here to tell you what to do, I'm here to make you better and help you Mm. Make things better for you. Yeah. Uh, rather than just get paid more and tell you what to do. And what's been the most challenging part of managing. Um, I also get people to trust you, but have you had like a moment of this is really, really tough.

There was a period of time where, and it wasn't that long ago, where lots of people left all in one go, oh, it's always tough. And I was like, Amy, someone's left. Amy. Someone's left. Amy, it's happened again. I think I had like four or five notices all in one go. And they were all for different reasons. They weren't like, I hate movies.

Yeah. They were all for, you know, self development or different opportunities and things. Yeah. But I was like, they hate me. Yeah. You right. I remember that actually. Is it me? Yeah. Is it me? Am I doing a bad job? Yeah. What am I doing? Why do they keep handing their notices in? I think, um, I think it got to five.

I mean, one was Jody, Jody came back to us. Yeah. Jody broke my heart. Yeah. That was heartbreaking. And she came back like four weeks later. We've seen that a few times, haven't we? Yeah. And it was, it was so nice having her back. It was so nice that she wanted to come back. Yeah. And that she didn't feel. That she couldn't come back.

Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, like no one's left because they hate it. They've left for like self-development and new opportunities, which is always fine. It's just, yeah, all in one go was quite tough. Yeah. Yeah. That was probably one of the hardest things. And, and over the three years, not to take it personally, not to take it person.

Yeah. Mm. And they do. And I've, I've always had that role. Haven't like we, in every role I've ever had is if people are leaving for something better. Yeah. Then we've done the right thing. Yeah. And I'm always supportive of anyone that leaves the company to do something better. Yeah. Bigger and better.

Brilliant. You have my full blessing and support and know that if you don't burn any bridges, you are always welcome back. Yeah. Um, but if you leave for something that's the same, then we failed. Yeah. And I feel like we, all of us have that, don't we? We failed if someone leaves because they're unhappy. Yeah, yeah.

Or because it's, or they're leaving just for another job because of the team or the culture or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Like it, it does it like it weighs heavy on you, doesn't it? Yeah. Because then you don't stop thinking about it. I'm a, I'm a, I think about things all the time, and I'll think about it at like one o'clock in the morning if I'm feeding Bonnie, and I'll think about it, and then I think, oh God.

Yeah. What could I have done differently? It might have been five years ago, but it's still in my brain. Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Do you not ever have those moments where you were in bed and you're like, oh, I shouldn't have had that argument with someone and you run through? Do you never have that? I do.

Sometimes I've had it. Um, we had, we went through a really hard time in Horsham. That was the only time that I've ever lost sleep in this business. Like most of the time, I love being in business. I love everything we are doing and I find it really invigorating. But Horsham was heavy. Really heavy. Heavy.

There was a lot, there was was a lot of stuff going on. But yeah, there was a lot of team. And then the problem is when you've, like, when you've gone through that and you've lost five people in the team, especially the ones that have been there for a while, and then, and then you've gotta rebuild that team.

There's always a phase, isn't there? PTSD is so real, man. Oh, that was tough. God, it was awful. But, um, we are here and we're still standing, which is incredible. And growing. We, like, we opened Goding. Mid COVID. Yeah. The She was mad. Yeah. I remember saying to Gigi, um, who's open? Godin? And I was like, okay. It was at December.

Do you remember when we had the lockdown? And then we had a little break December to January where we could open, and then we were going into the second lockdown. Yeah. And Gigi was already, and I said to her, look, if you are gonna open, we'd found a premises and everything. And I was like, if you are gonna open, you're gonna have to open before that time, because then you're gonna have to register for business rate so that when you close you are, you are entitled to.

Grants. Yeah. Otherwise you're gonna have a business with no grants. And I remember Gigi and she cracks me up because she doesn't, she's not like, um, overly, I don't know. Like, she's not in your face, is she? She's quite, quite a quiet soul. She's not. I get a wine, get a wine in her. It's very different. Um, but she doesn't dominate like space, you know?

And I remember saying to her, this is the situation. What do you wanna do? And she just went, fuck it. Yeah, let's do it. She's so fearless. And I just looked at her, I was like, are you for real? She went, yeah. I said, you're gonna open for four weeks and then close, wouldn't you? Yeah. She's so fearless. She really was.

Yeah. It was so brave. And it was actually the best thing she could do because she took the overflow from afar and built up a clientele closed and they were ready for her when she came back. Yeah. And she's done so well. She really has. She's done. So she did such a big leap as well. 'cause she never went into any management and she was like, yeah, screw it.

I'm gonna open my own salon and just go and go Therapist. Salon owner. So she, 'cause she was working with you, wasn't she before that time? Yeah. Worked with Gigi. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was there. I think Gigi was there before I started. Yeah. And then, um, yeah, I worked, I loved working with Gigi. She's one of the funniest people I've ever met.

She is hilarious, isn't she? No filter whatsoever. But then from the beginning, like, I can't wait to have a chat with her 'cause she's Brazilian and there's, I just wanna find out so much about her. Yeah. Um. However, like when she first started, she didn't really speak, did she? She didn't really talk to anyone.

And I remember Jo saying to me, that was managing at the time, I don't think we can keep her because she just doesn't talk to anyone. And I've had so many conversations with her, I dunno what to do. Yeah. And now look at her running her own salon. Can't show up. No, you can't. She Yeah, she is. Yeah. She's a special human, our teacher.

She really is. Yeah, she's lush. I think we are, we've got a whole herd of very, very special humans. So. When we are, we are dealing with people all the time. Right? Yeah. And we've talked a little bit about emotions and stuff like that, but I feel that it can feel quite heavy, you know, when you are dealing with the public.

Yeah. You're dealing with clients that we've talked about, 'em, offloading, we've talked about them, uh, you know, and we want people to do that. And that's what Moiz is about. Isn't it? Like a safe space for everybody, non-judgmental. Everybody's welcome. And it's one of the most proudest things that I've, I feel like we've done as a business, but also as a therapist that can feel heavy, but even more so as a manager because you are dealing with the staff's emotions and hormones and problems and drama as well as the clients.

Yeah. How did you deal with that? Um. Yeah. I mean the, one of the best things that you ever told me to do was like, physically shake it off. Yeah. I, I just physically like, shake my body. Do you? Yeah, I do. If I've had a heavy conversation with someone or if there's been a really bad client complaint. Yeah. Or if I've talked to someone and it's quite heavy and like I feel it.

I will just like shake my body. And we're all such huggers, aren't we? So we do hug our clients and we're like, oh, bring it in. Like, yeah. So you do take it and then you're listening to the problems, which you wanna do. 'cause you wanna love them and you wanna cherish them, and you wanna give them the best service possible.

Yeah. And make them feel amazing. But when you've dealt with what, 10, 12, 15 clients in a day sometimes? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a lot, isn't it? Yeah. And then when you're dealing with your, your staff, they are all. Also bringing their own stuff. Yeah. That does feel a lot, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And you can get really weighed down.

There's almost like there's no space left. Yeah. It feels like, but then I had such a great team mm-hmm. Behind me. Like when, when I was running it, I had, you know, I had loose before she left, and then I had Lauren. And Lauren is such a mum. Yeah. She's such a mum. She is a, she can just take it all. Mm-hmm. And I've never seen Lauren struggle with taking people's, she might do, she might go home and just.

Like sit in a dark room and rock. But she, I've never, I've never seen it, but she, she takes it on so well. Yeah. And she's so good with people with, with the teams. Yeah. She really is. She really is. So, um. She used to like support me a lot with that. Mm. But you know, sometimes you just wanna have a moment at your manager and that's fine.

I'll take it, but I will, you know, just gimme a sec to sit in the toilet, just shake it, you it off, and let you just shake it off. Yeah, shake it off. And then when you get home, because obviously we are chatting all day, every day. Yeah. How do you decompress when you get home? Um, so on my, on my drive home from work, I would either sit in silence and drive home.

Yeah. Because you've had music on all day as well. Yeah. It can feel quite a lot. Can't of. Yeah. And. Uh, yeah. So I'd either sit in silence and just, just listen to nothing. Or I would call my mom. Oh, really? Yeah. And I just chat. I only live like seven minutes away from the salon. I just chat to my mom the whole way, but not about work.

I just chat to her about life. Yeah. I just, how was your day? What done today? Yeah. And it just took my mind off of it. Wow. I, I am a bit of a, like, Ben must hate me because of sometimes, because he doesn't just put babies together, doesn't mean No, I'm sometimes not easy to be with. Really. I don't believe that.

Yeah. Um, I get really touched out. Ah, so, 'cause we touch people all the time. Yeah. We touch people human contact all day, every day. Yeah. So even if we're sitting on the sofa and his foot touches me, I'm like, get off, get your foot off of me. He's so hot as well. Like he is, he radiates so much heat, he radiates so much heat.

And I like your toe is on me and I'm boiling up. You need to get off. So I just need a bit of like, we've got a super king bed, we don't touch, I could starfish and we don't touch each other. Is it in my personal face? She, he's touching me. Get it off immediately. That's like, that's so true actually. Yeah.

I've never thought of that. Yeah. And even with Bonnie, like she, she's quite, I mean, she's quite poorly at the moment, but she's been, there have been periods of time where she only wants to be on me and only wants me, and sometimes it's like I'm fine with her. But again, if like, if I get too, like he stretches out on the sofa and is there, I'm just so annoyed.

I was so annoyed. I can't hold it out. Just Ben, you need to move. Yeah. You need to just sit up a little bit. That's so true. And also when the kids are little, like I remember being, when they're like toddlers or they like, pipe has always been like a proper clingy baby. Yeah. Like, or like she was, she was just on me all the time.

Yeah. Um, and she still is, to be fair, at eight years old, my youngest, she's always wanting, like, I always, I joke, I'm like, if you could get in me again, you would like, she's just always like, has to be hanging off me or something. It's lovely, but it's really hard. Yeah. But yeah, you get touched out as a mum, but I hadn't thought about that as a therapist actually.

Yeah. Just constantly holding someone's hand and especially if you're having really deep conversations with someone because of, it's like you physically take it. Yeah. Through my hands. Yeah. Like I think I've taking that emotion through my hands and it feels like I said, it just feels really heavy. Yeah.

And I just don't wanna be touched for a little bit. Oh, but also I love a bath. That's a really good way too. I love reading books. Like I love it. I don't need much. So anything in solitude. Yeah, just peace and solitude, loneliness. I like my own company. I am quite happy to be by myself. Yeah. Not by myself a lot anymore, but I do quite so surprisingly.

'cause when you meet, you. Especially your clients probably would never have known that. No, no. A bit. I, I mean, in our jobs we're a bit, uh, chameleony anyway. We a bit chameleon. You have to be a photo fit in wherever and you gel with anyone. You just, you slightly change your personality everywhere, don't you, to fit.

Yes you do. Yeah. So it, yeah, I can just quite easily change myself and like change my emotions. I quite, I don't ever find it hard to leave home at home. Right. And come into the salon. Just be sad on Jade. Yeah. Don't find that very hard. It's quite refreshing sometimes to just forget about everything and come in and just be with everyone else to forget.

Oh, Jade, you're such a lovely soul. Oh, you really are. So what do you think, um, Moiz has done the best in? Like, what do you think we are known for? What do you think? We are really, really, really bloody good at? Everything. Everything. Um, I, I think that, especially when I started, I, I'd love to have seen my first manicure.

Oh, my first paint compared to what it is now. I'd love it. I can imagine it would've been really shit. Yeah. Shocking. I love that. It would've been, I mean it's in comparison to now though, shocking. Your work is absolutely like beautiful. It would've been terrible. It probably wouldn't have been good enough.

But also it's evolved, doesn't it? Like the world nail industry? Massively. And what we offer the bab, the, I mean, it has kind of gone back to how we used to do it in the olden days. Yeah, yeah. But when I first trained, but um. The biab gels and overlays and the way that we do treatments is very, very different.

It's not just a standard gel manicure very often anymore, is it? No, no. Not very often. And like working only doing a few things made me so good. Yeah. It made me so much better. Like my waxing got so much better. Yeah. It was so much faster. It was so much more thorough. Yeah. But also the training that you gave me to do those things, you know, I mean, when I first started, I think within like two weeks we were doing.

We had like a whole day with you doing overlays and extensions and things like that. And I was like, I never even, what's an overlay? Yeah. But then I, I am a list person. Like I said, I work really well watching, uh, so I watched all of the videos on gel bottles website and stuff to learn how to do it that way.

And you have to, don't you like, yeah. But the training that you give us and that you've created has helped me massively. Like pregnancy waxing and stuff. Yeah. All the information like to know what I'm doing. Sexual health, we've covered all, don't we? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm really pleased that you think like that.

Yeah. Thanks Jade. That's okay. I've got one last question for you. What's for dinner? I haven't been food shopping. I haven't been food shopping. I haven't had time. So the reason we ask this question is 'cause in Mo is. It's like the most cult I think it's the most popular question, isn't it? Yeah. And we, we are not, we we're not allowed to ask, are you going on holiday?

It's banned. It's horrible in our culture, everything, we don't not allowed to ask it, right? No, because I hate that. Whatcha you doing on holidays? Why are you going on holiday? Oh, oh, it's dicky. It is. It's horrible. Yeah. So come on Jade. Be creative. What's for dinner?

The Bonnie's eating, but she's not very well. So she won't be having much. No. So I was meant to go food shopping yesterday. That's the reason that I didn't, oh. Don't have any food. But likely it's gonna be something like fish fingers. Oh, I love a fish finger. Do you ever do it in a wrap? The same thing. It's in my freezer.

Yeah. I love it. In a wrap bit with, with, oh pea. I'm a lettuce and a bit of tartar sauce or, oh, mayonnaise and ketchup. Oh, nice. Maybe. Do you like peas? I do like peas. It's actually a really good wrap. It's the thing I ever, no, it's the first thing I ever made. Martin. How do you contain it? Well, you just. Put the com ketchup and mayo on first, then put the peas and then a little bit of salt and pepper, then wrap it up.

Okay. So I dunno. I dunno if I could do that. 'cause I dunno if I could have ketchup or mayo on my peas. Oh, it's so good. I dunno. It was one of those, like, he came and stayed with me the first weekend and I was like, oh, I don't have anything. I've got some frozen wraps, got some fish fingers, got some pea.

I'll have a go. And it's now, we had it for our evening wedding, um, dish. Yeah, fish finger wraps. And then it's now the kids' favorite. And it's one of those, you know, when you just can't be bothered to do anything. Yeah. For sugar wrap with pea. There we go. I mean, it's the most basic thing because if I'm not a very good cook's so good, I don't cook.

Ben's the best cook. He cooks everything. Is he? Yeah, but now he's poorly. So fishing. It is fishing. It's in the air fry. We're good to go. Thanks Jade. Thanks for spending time with me. Thanks.

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Amy Lewis

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